Lebanon, Tenn. – (Nov. 11, 2013) ––Acclaimed vocalist
Mandy Barnett’s CD,
I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson, is now available exclusively at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® locations, digitally on
crackerbarrel.com and with select online retailers.
The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® exclusive album release, featuring 12 classic songs, fulfills a promise Barnett made to her friend, Gibson, that she would one day record an album of his music. It celebrates the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s legacy and coincides with the 10th anniversary of Gibson’s death on Nov. 17, 2003.
I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson sells for $11.99.
“I am excited the album is out so fans can hear it!” said Barnett. “This project was a labor of love. I became good friends with Don and his wife, Bobbi, a few years before he passed away. I was so honored that Don asked me to record an album of his songs, and I wanted to create something he would be proud to have his name on.
“I’m thrilled to release this album with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®. They were wonderful to work with when I released Winter Wonderland a few years ago, and I’m happy to be back with them again on this project,” Barnett said.
“Mandy Barnett is great! She has done a beautiful job with all of Don’s songs,” said his widow, Bobbi Gibson. “Mandy is such a fan of Don’s songwriting and she’s captured the essence of his songs perfectly. I know Don would love this album!”
I Can't Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson was produced by Barnett and recorded in Nashville. It features legendary musicians and Country Music Hall of Fame members Harold Bradley, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, and Charlie McCoy, all of whom played on several of Gibson’s original recordings of these songs.
The 12 songs featured on
I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson (all written by Gibson) are:
1) “(Yes) I’m Hurting”
2) “Too Soon To Know”
3) “Look Who’s Blue”
4) “Sweet Dreams”
5) “Just One Time”
6) “Blue Blue Day”*
7) “Oh Lonesome Me”
8) “Oh Such a Stranger”
9) “Far Far Away”
10) “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
11) “Lonesome Number One”
12) “Legend in My Time”
*Features harmony vocals by Alison Krauss
“Mandy Barnett has produced an outstanding album that features her amazing vocals and Don Gibson’s timeless songs,” said Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Marketing Manager Julie Craig. “We hope our guests will treasure this CD.”
During the week of the album release, Barnett will perform with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center for three nights on Nov. 14-16. For tickets and more information, visit
www.nashvillesymphony.org.
Gibson, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001, was a very popular and highly influential country music singer/songwriter in the 1950s and 1960s. As an artist, he charted more than 20 Top 10 hits and released nearly 40 albums between 1958 and 1978 and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry. As a songwriter, he wrote songs such as “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Oh Lonesome Me,” and “Sweet Dreams” (among others) that have become timeless classics and have been recorded by a multitude of artists in a variety of music genres, including Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Neil Young and others. Gibson considered himself a songwriter who sang, rather than a singer who wrote songs.
Crossville, Tenn.-native Barnett has been singing since she was five years old. She possesses a full-bodied voice and vocal style reminiscent of the iconic classic country and pop singers. As a teenager, she starred as Patsy Cline in the stage show “Always….Patsy Cline” at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and has reprised the role several times at the Ryman. Barnett released her self-titled debut album on Asylum Records. Her second album was the Sire Records release I’ve Got a Right to Cry, produced by legendary Owen Bradley. She released a Christmas album in 2010, Winter Wonderland, with Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® and Rounder Records. Barnett’s rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from that album was prominently featured in the 2012 USA Network television series “Political Animals. In 2011, Barnett released Sweet Dreams, a collection of songs made famous by Cline, on the Opry Music label.
Barnett's recordings have achieved much critical acclaim. Rolling Stone, Time, People, and Billboard magazines and The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times are among the many publications that have lauded Barnett's talents.
Barnett tours regularly and is a frequent guest on the Grand Ole Opry. She has appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” PBS’s “Sessions at West 54th,” and various other television broadcasts. To learn more, visit
www.MandyBarnett.com, follow her on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/mandybarnettmusic and on Twitter
@mandybarnettcom.
